Irish Military Online is in no way affiliated with the Irish Defence Forces. It is in no way sponsored or endorsed by the Irish Defence Forces or the Irish Government. Opinions expressed by the authors and contributors of this site are not necessarily those of the Defence Forces. If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Not forgetting the Silverman to save the ship (or was he on the flight deck to pull the flight crew out

Bit of anomaly in that one, at the time I was taught when I wore the suit, we got to pull the crew out, but the doctrine was if the helo caught fire use the monitors to knock it over the side and prevent damage to the ship...often wonder were the AC aware of our intentions?

In the one incident I was involved in the Aircrafts own extinguishers had suppressed the fire before I got to dump 20kgs of dry powder into the engine involved, bet the engineers were well happy about that.

My latter training in the CAA fire school taught that 'snatch' rescues using silvers suits very verboten ....and were strictly used by military only.

I reckon the helo was going over the side only because the rescue divers wanted the practise...which brings me nicely to those people who qualified with the RN, dropping from Helos etc, a member here being one....cue Damo!!!!

Royal Navy Ship Pays Visit to Turks and Caicos

The Royal Navy patrol ship HMS Severn has visited the Turks and Caicos to strengthen bonds with the Caribbean Islands.

Severn, currently deployed in the region, arrived off Providenciales where her Commanding Officer Lieutenant Commander Steven Banfield met with local authorities and toured the Providenciales coastal radar station.

The River Class Offshore Patrol ship then travelled on to Grand Turk, where she embarked the Acting Governor Mrs Anya Williams; the Premier Doctor Rufus Ewing and a number of other officials for lunch at sea.

At the same time the ship also conducted a joint training exercise with the T&C Police Force (Marine) Division that simulated the process of identifying and investigating a vessel fishing illegally.

Lieutenant Ollie Hazeldine, Severn’s Tactical Fisheries Officer who helped coordinate the exercise said: “Working with the Turks and Caicos Police (Marine) department and DEMA was an informative and valuable exercise for all parties.

The Portsmouth based, and Newport affiliated, River Class Offshore Patrol Vessel has deployed to the Caribbean on Atlantic Patrol Tasking (North) duties, providing reassurance to British Overseas Territories and dependencies, whilst also being prepared to conduct disaster relief assistance.

He explained to members of the media that the over 234 day period in the Caribbean provided reassurance that Her Majesty’s Government is engaged in the region.

During that time, counter - narcotic operations were conducted though the central and eastern Caribbean, working alongside a number of maritime enforcement agencies, as well as training an estimated 600 members of such agencies.

“The people who come on board learn from us about how the Royal Navy operates at sea. However, I also learn from them because the Caribbean is a region which at first I was not very familiar with. Having spent time with the region’s coast guards I learned how things work in the Caribbean, therefore when I am out doing counter narcotics operations I can determine when something doesn’t look right because it is not what normal behaviour is,” he pointed out.

Captain Banfield took the opportunity to commend the efforts of the Regional Security System (RSS), expressing that he was impressed with the level of interaction between all the islands.

“I have been massively impressed with how joined up the efforts are at sea in terms of keeping everybody safe, but also the counter narcotics and sharing of intelligence – a lot of it based around the Regional Security System,” he observed.

“A lot of narcotics, especially in the eastern Caribbean are being intercepted at the moment… I went in their new aircraft recently and there is excellent equipment on board; a real asset. Also they were up spotting for us while we are looking for drug runners or illegal fisherman.”
The Captain further revealed that HMS SEVERN will have steamed over 30,000 nautical miles by the time she returns to the United Kingdom, and held 91 official functions on board including capability demonstrations, lunches and tours. It is estimated that over 4,000 people would have visited the ship during the deployment.

While on its final visit to Barbados, the Ship continued to have visitors, including 11 children from the Irving Wilson School, one of the British High Commission’s charitable benefactors on the island.